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Hiccup jolts awake, sitting up and leaning over to cough water out of his lungs. He tries– so hard, so hard– to give a small laugh at Toothless, at his tongue barely out of his face, but instead, it turns into a retch, and then he’s vomiting all over the deck of the ship and somebody’s rubbing circles into his back and pulling his wet hair out of his face.
“Holy shit,” somebody says, and Hiccup gasps for air. “I c–can’t, can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,” and he coughs up more water, clawing at his neck and his chest and he feels so dizzy and light–headed that he lets himself collapse into somebody’s soft, smooth arms and buries himself in their clothing– and oh, there’s cold metal, it’s Astrid– and he shivers and somebody places a warm fur around him.
After a few minutes, once he’s retched up about a bucket-load more’s worth of water, he manages to ask shakily, “What… happened?”
“Viggo happened,” Snotlout grumbles, climbing onto Hookfang, and Hiccup coughs again, attempting to push himself up into a standing position. “W–what? No, no, he can’t– escape–”
“Easy, Hiccup,” Fishlegs says, gently pushing him back down into Astrid’s arms. “We’ve got you.”
“We’ll go after him,” Ruffnut assures him somberly, and Tuffnut nods determinedly. “We won’t let him get away. Astrid, you coming?”
“Yep,” Astrid replies, taking Hiccup’s hand before standing up. “We’ll be back.”
And soon enough, they are.